Ebooks Ready for Prime Time at Lulu

Since the eBook
explosion, Lulu has been one of the top names in self-publishing and format
conversion in the young industry, and now the company looks to shake things up
a bit by releasing its new e-commerce platform (as well as adding some major
upgrades to its website).

As reported a few weeks ago, Lulu has entered into a partnership with e-commerce platform provider Elastic Path to give readers and
writers alike “the absolute best self-publishing experience for buying and selling”
eBooks in various formats around the world.

Many of these enhancements are being included directly in
Lulu’s new website, such as checkouts that don’t require users to register,
faster browsing times, an enhanced international language/currency support, improved
address validation and new customizable marketing tools for authors as part of
the company’s free publishing services.

This new website infrastructure is meant to help increase
the speed with which Lulu can unveil new features and updates for customers. Among
these upcoming upgrades is will be APIs that will let businesses and
publishers build Lulu’s e-commerce tools right into their own branded
websites for free.

In addition to these new features on the website, Lulu is
also looking to improve “author agility in a rapidly changing publishing
industry” by making it easier for readers to find eBook content anywhere
applicable on the Web, most notably in places they already shop, like the Amazon
Kindle Store, the iBookstore and the Barnes & Noble Nook Bookstore.

All of these major changes will not affect Lulu’s previous
primary service, the easy uploading and selling of eBook content that allows
writers to set their own prices and keep as much as 90 percent of the profit
for their work.